LEMONS

I was going to take part in the Tiny Tuesday challenge until we went to Waitrose and saw this box of lemons because, of course, it’s Shrove Tuesday so they are cashing in on that fact - can you spot the fake?

I wonder how many know the origins of the practice of having pancakes on Shrove Tuesday? 

“Shrove Tuesday is a day of celebration as well as penitence, because it's the last day before Lent.  Lent is a time of abstinence, of giving things up. So Shrove Tuesday is the last chance to indulge yourself, and to use up the foods that aren't allowed in Lent.  Shrove Tuesday gets its name from the ritual of shriving that Christians used to undergo in the past. In shriving, a person confesses their sins and receives absolution for them.
When a person receives absolution for their sins, they are forgiven for them and released from the guilt and pain that they have caused them.  So that no food was wasted, families would have a feast on the “shriving” Tuesday, and eat up all the foods that wouldn't last the forty days of Lent without going off."

I’m not one of those who “gives things up” for Lent, but I often buy bunches of daffodils and give them out to random strangers and sometimes I buy a coffee for the person in the queue behind me in a coffee shop.  

For me, Lent is a time of thinking about the 40 days leading up to the crucifixion of Jesus and is a period of self-examination and reflection.  I have a Lent book entitled “A Feast for Lent” by Delia Smith, which I often use to help me focus my mind during this time - at the moment, it’s not where it should be, so I wonder if I have let someone borrow it - I think a little sort out of books is on the cards!

“Focus on faith and 
     grow your roots strong and deep 
          so no one can make you believe in something 
               that is not good for your soul.” 
Molly Friedenfeld